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image courtesy Kona Community Hospital

Two More Kona Hospital Employees COVID-19 Positive, Testing Clinic Set
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by Big Island Video News
on Jul 15, 2020 at 4:28 pm

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STORY SUMMARY

KONA, Hawaiʻi - As of today, three Kona Community Hospital employees have tested positive for the virus. All the employees are quarantined at home.

(BIVN) – An on-site COVID-19 testing clinic will be held at Kona Community Hospital on Thursday, as two more hospital employees have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases at the hospital cluster to three.

On Monday, the Kona hospital announced that an employee was positively diagnosed with coronavirus. “Per hospital protocols, nursing is in the process of tracking and testing any employees who may have been in contact with the staff member,” said Interim Chief Nurse Officer Stephanie Irwin, RN, MSN at the time.

Today, the hospital announced two more employees were COVID-19 positive.

On Thursday, mandatory testing of all Kona Community Hospital and affiliated employees, physicians and contractors working at the facility will take place. The hospital says the “pop-up model” is the approved, best practice for facilities that have identified COVID-19 positive staff.

The testing session is not open to the public. Hospital visitors and discharged patients will be able to be tested on an as-of-yet unannounced secondary testing date.

The Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense announced Thursday’s pop-up testing event in a Wednesday morning alert message, and Kona Community Hospital followed up with a news release later in the day, saying:

Hospital leaders and the KCH infection prevention department contacted Dr. Scott Miscovich of the Premier Medical Group Hawaii to help conduct a pop-up testing site for staff. Broad-scale testing of all staff is a proactive measure to provide an immediate, accurate snapshot of personnel who may be potentially exposed to the COVID-19 virus.

A secondary testing date is being coordinated for later in the weekend to accommodate screening of hospital families and ʻohana, hospital visitors and discharged patients who may be concerned about potential exposure while at the hospital.

Of the hospital-wide testing, Acting CEO, Jay Kreuzer said, “No one is exempt. We’re conducting testing on all employees because it the right thing to do. It is the best way to ensure the safety of our staff, our patients and our community.”

“We understand that employees and community members are concerned about exposure to COVID-19,” the hospital news release stated. “It is our goal to rapidly address those concerns. Additionally, the KCH Incident Command team will use testing data to adapt its COVID emergency management plan to implement on-going employee testing.”


Filed Under: Kailua-Kona Tagged With: Kona Community Hospital

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